Visual search in the context of computing devices or computers refers to techniques that enable a computer or other device to provide identifying information for objects in one or more images. Recent interest in visual search has resulted in algorithms that enable computers to identify partially occluded objects and/or features in a wide variety of changing image conditions, including changes in image scale, noise, illumination, and local geometric distortion. During this same time, mobile devices that include cameras have emerged, but such mobile devices may have limited user interfaces for entering text or otherwise interfacing with the mobile devices. Developers of mobile devices and mobile device applications have sought to utilize the camera of the mobile device to enhance user interactions with the mobile device.
To illustrate one enhancement, a user of a mobile device may use a camera of the mobile device to capture an image of any given product while shopping at a store. The mobile device may then initiate a visual search algorithm within a set of archived feature descriptors for various images to identify the product based on matching imagery. After identifying the product, the mobile device may then initiate an Internet-based search and present a webpage that contains information about the identified product, which may include, for example, a lowest cost for which the product is available from nearby merchants and/or online merchants. In another example, object recognition may be used to generate supplemental information, which can be overlayed in the display of the mobile device to achieve so-called augmented reality.